Ane and Pakieli, Tonga's Top Models [1]
Saturday, July 19, 2008 - 16:26. Updated on Thursday, September 11, 2014 - 16:47.
Tonga's Top Models for 2008 are Ane Sereille Vea and Pakieli Havili announced at the grand finale held at the Queen Salote Memorial Hall, on July 17.
Ane (17) from Kolofo'ou won the Women's Top Model category while Pakieli (20) of Ha'ateiho took the Men's Top Model title.
The guest of honour HRH Princess Latufuipeka presented the winners with $500 pa'anga each and gift packs.
The finale night consisted of colourful and outrageous fashion of fishnets; tight skin dresses, a Cinderella ball gown and casual wear. The hall was filled with fans and families who cheered for their favourite model.
The "Top Models" were selected by a panel of judges out of 27 finalists drawn from five rounds of the fun competition held in Nuku'alofa, the rural districts of Tongatapu including Hihifo, Hahake, and the Central area and also Vava'u earlier this month.
The finalists of the first five rounds were determined by a text messaging campaign and each model.
Mataele Finau the Creative Director for Tonga's Top Model contest said they were very happy with the outcome of the competition and planned to hold the competition annually for the youth of Tonga.
The competition costover $10,000 pa'anga to organise and "because we did a lot of promotion and advertising as well as hiring camera crews, but the outcome was well worth it," said the Creative Director.